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Elderly Couple May Be on the Hook for Adult Son's Medical Bills

September 30th, 2014

An elderly Pennsylvania husband and wife are being asked to pay their deceased adult son's medical bills under a law making family members responsible for a loved one's unpaid bills. The case is a reminder that such “filial responsibility” laws may go both ways – requiring parents to pay the debts of adult children as well as the children to pay for their parents'.

Peg and Bob Mohn's son died at age 47, leaving unpaid medical bills. Now according to an article in The Morning Call, debt collectors are trying to dun the Mohns using an archaic state law that wasn’t enforced until recently. Pennsylvania is one of 28 states that currently have filial responsibility laws. These laws usually make adult children responsible for their parents’ care if their parents can't afford to take care of themselves, but some of the laws also make parents responsible for their childrens' care.

Hale Ball Carlson Baumgartner Murphy PLC

Loretta Morris Williams is a certified elder law attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation. Ms. Williams was admitted to the Council of Advanced Practitioners, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) in 2012. She serves as President of the Virginia Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Ms. Willia...

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Felinton Elder Law & Estate Planning Centers

Mindy Felinton concentrates in the areas of Medicaid planning, Veterans' Benefits, asset protection, nursing home planning, elder law, wills, estate planning, trusts, living wills, powers of attorney, probate administration and trust administration and began her legal career 30 years ago as an Assistant State Attorney...

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Hale Ball Carlson Baumgartner Murphy PLC

Jean Galloway Ball is certified in Elder Law by the National Elder Law Foundation. She is a 1977 honors graduate of the National Law Center, George Washington University, and she did her undergraduate work at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1971.
She is admitted to practice in Vir...

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Filial responsibility laws, which originated before the advent of the modern public support system, have been rarely enforced, but lately states and health care providers have started taking a second look at them to recover medical expenses, including Medicaid payments. In May 2012, a Pennsylvania court found an adult son liable for his mother's $93,000 nursing home bill under the state's filial responsibility law.

According to Pennsylvania ElderLawAnswers member attorney Stanley Vasiliadis who is quoted in the Morning Call article, these laws provide additional incentive for people to plan their estates. Without proper planning, children could be on the hook for their parents' nursing home bills, and vice versa.